Elimination Chamber 2018
Pre-Show: Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs Miztourage Raw Tag Team Championship Match: (c) The Bar vs Titus Worldwide With the injury to Jason Jordan becoming pretty serious were he has to miss time it became pretty clear that the Raw tag division has become insanely weak. Looking at things there is no reason that Titus Worldwide shouldn't have been in the title match at the Rumble following their wins over The Bar in January. However, one on one the result doesn't change as The Bar will likely be the team carrying the titles into Wrestlemania this year with a win tonight. Matt Hardy vs Bray Wyatt I am going to keep this short as this feud has really lost a step since their weak match at Raw 25. I still am a big fan of both these men, but neither have very high momentum and both need to start building it as such. With that being said I think the best way to go is to have Matt Hardy win this match since his move to broken is still very new. Asuka vs Nia Jax Even with this strange stipulation the build for this match has been alright at best and though it might have been better then the actual Chamber match, that doesn't say much. Though this has happened a few times most notably in 2006 with Rey Mysterio & Randy Orton at No Way Out. However, comparing both Asuka & Rey Mysterio's booking and it is clear that Asuka is in a better place then Rey was at the time. Which also makes this match a little predictable due to the idea that I don't see Asuka losing such an important match this close to Mania. Women's Championship Elimination Chamber Match: Sasha Banks vs Bayley vs Mickie James vs Alexa Bliss vs Mandy Rose vs Sonya Deville The build up to this match has been absolutely terrible and felt like they were building up two separate matches as opposed to one big match. It has felt like Banks was facing Bayley & James/Bliss was against Absolution which really puts a damper on the match. Even though some might say it adds to the match giving it some built in stories I don't know that they shouldn't have built the first Chamber match differently. Looking at it I think that it is possible that Bliss retains and that's actually what I am going with due to not really seeing anyone else with the belt. #1 Contender Elimination Chamber Match: Roman Reigns vs Braun Strowman vs The Miz vs Finn Balor vs John Cena vs Seth Rollins vs Elias This match on paper looks like it's going to be a cluster**** due to the amount of people that will be in the match and it looks like WWE tried to force to many into the match. It is possible that the WWE tried to put so many into the match to try and throw off the fans predictions and thinking that Roman will definitely win. With that being said and looking at how they built up Rollins & how strong Braun has been booked it feels like they are more prepared for after Mania then changing plans. I am going with the predictable finish that being Roman getting the shot to face Brock and likely getting booed out of the building because of it.
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Once again I have found old articles that I wrote that I had never posted, which does lead me to wonder exactly why I wrote it if I didn't share the article. This is exactly why I will finally be sharing these few posts that I have found in the hidden folders of my computer. Below is the featured article that I wrote a year ago almost to date which is insane knowing that I have basically forgotten about this for a year or so:
There have been a ton of stories going around the inter-webs from former employees to former members of the creative team. There are stories about Vince being a workaholic, about him getting mad about sneezing since he can’t control it. Now probably to one of the most interesting stories about Vince as it brings together just how much of a maniac he is. So the story he goes once told that Vince Russo “There is No Sick!!” There is a quote directly from Vince himself referencing this incident with Vince. The quote is below: “There is no sick”. That was a direct quote from Vince McMahon to me, while I tried to work through a pay-per-view and TV taping when in actuality I should have been in a hospital” He continued: “That infamous line came from Vince the night prior at our production meeting when I was on the verge of DEATH while sitting next to him. After about an hour into the meeting, Vince looked at me somewhat annoyed and said, what’s wrong with you? Vince—I’m Sick, I said. Vince looked me dead in the eye and delivered the line, THERE IS NO SICK.” This quote was taken from a piece that Vince wrote for Whatculture.com on his former boss and though the time period wasn’t narrowed down I could probably wager a guess and say that it was from the Attitude Era. Though some might decide that this shows even more evidence of Vince being a nut job, but also think this shows just how committed he is to the WWE and how much he cares about the company. I mean I do agree that saying that there is no such thing as being too sick to work is a little much, but I also get where Vince is coming from for once. Because there is a difference between being sick and being as sick as Vince apparently was at this time according to him. http://www.iwnerd.com/wwe-writers-former-creative-stories-mcmahon/5/ This was really a tough choice as at this point in the list it really makes the most impact on the entire list and I think that I have made the right decision. From names like Roman Reigns to Naito to Cole to Drake we have looked at some the best talent in the world of wrestling. During his career AJ Styles has come along so far into becoming one of the best talents of this generation. Though he really didn't have much time in WCW his career began to take off once TNA opened in 2002 as a founding member of the X-Division. After a few years AJ would really hit his stride and begin to lead TNA as one of the top stars for the company. However, all good things come to an end and in 2014 he would leave TNA and head to New Japan to join the Bullet Club.
To put on display the special talent AJ Styles is for those who may not be aware at this point only 4 names have held the IWGP Heavyweight title in the last seven years. Those names include Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito, and AJ Styles. This is quite a class especially since AJ would win the title from Okada within his first few months. The news that then would shock the wrestling world in 2016 that AJ Styles would be leaving New Japan for the WWE. Fans were waiting with fated breath worried about how AJ would be booked in the WWE and the Royal Rumble would give us that answer. Then in October 2016 the world be shocked again when AJ Styles would capture the WWE title for the first time. Now instead of continuing to speak about his career which I think everyone is aware of at this point. Overall, I don't think I have to make a major case of AJ Styles being at this number in the list, but I will also making the point to mention that AJ was able to get great matches out of Brock Lesanr & Jinder Mahal. Not to mention though that AJ was able to tear the house down with John Cena every single time they have been in the ring together. For these reasons alone AJ Styles belongs as the number 3 ranked wrestler in the world from 2017. Since the return of the cruiserweight division in the WWE we have seen a very lackluster attempt to revive an old favorite of yesteryear. Back in the day there was a time when the cruiserweights were among the most highly touted performers in the world and somewhere along the lines that changed. Though there seems to be a connection to when the WWE would lose interest in something other companies do to. However, following the success of the Cruiserweight Classic tournament the company decided to bring back the division to much fanfare. The one thing didn't count on was well fans actually caring about how the talent was booked and expecting that the booking of the CWC would carry over into how the talent would be booked on the main roster.
Unfortunately that didn't happen as the company instead pushed lame storylines and lackluster matches with concepts that fit regular WWE and not the CWC. The first good decision they made was giving Neville the title and letting him run wild, but then they never really had a long term plan for him after the title. Also don't get me started about Enzo. Recently, reports have been coming out that Triple H has seemingly been given complete control of 205 Live and in a way the Cruiserweights as a whole. With all things considered and looking at recent shows things have gotten a lot better with the show as they have been presenting a lot more meaningful matches a long the lines of the CWC. This to my knowledge is the first major control that Triple H has been given on the main roster with him slowly moving to the main roster. With the new year upon us and the first month gone it is time to start looking around and figuring on some new series to get going on the site. Though I have been attempting to focus on giving some new series to the sections that really have been lacking like Impact Wrestling and Ring of Honor. However, this section still deserves to be included in the new series swing. Over the last few weeks I have seen a lot of different sites & channels on YouTube focusing on top 10 wrestlers. I really thought that this would be a fantastic idea and now will really brings things together.
So starting next week I will be focusing on attempting to put together consistent weekly list giving you all the an idea of who I would think is the top stars in the WWE. At this point I will be making a point to keep the WWE list somewhat consistent and who knows sometime in the future we could see things expand to New Japan or other companies around the website. Now this isn't the same as the current top 10 list that I am putting together as that has to do with 2017 as whole and not factored 2018 in at all. With that being said this new ranking series will not start until the current "countdown" is completed. However, when it does begin I will be including NXT talent in the list as well as main roster talent due to both being under the same banner. I will also say that depending on how consistent I am this could shape the Wrestler of the Year voting at the end of the year. Stay tuned as new series will becoming to the site in the coming months. This would obviously be a tough pill to swallow for some fans due to how "well" the WWE handles Roman, but saying he isn't a top star would be a disservice. Since his arrival on the main roster Roman has been tremendously protected by his booking especially following the end of The Shield & his move up the card. It is for this reason that most fans have taken up a strong dislike for the "Big Dog." However, it is hard not to say that Roman has not only helped lead the WWE in the last year, but also helped to bring new talent up the card as well. Though some might also say that Roman shouldn't be included this high I would tell those of you that not including him this high would be wrong due to the impact Roman had on WWE in 2017.
Roman & his feud with Braun Strowman & The Miz made for some of the most interesting moments for the WWE in 2017. Even though Roman's skills on the microphone are still subpar when it comes to longer promos, but he did prove on the night after WrestleMania that his promos can have an impact. Roman has however come along way in the ring since his days in the Shield and he has shown that last year with his feud with Braun and just how good he made Braun looked in the feud. Overall if the WWE would booked Roman a little differently and made him seem more human I do think that fans would be more accepting of the "Big Dog." However, it's hard to ignore how far he has come since his days in the developmental territory. Roman will never be the best wrestler in the company or in the world, but he definitely can be one of the top stars. |
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April 2023
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